NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will fly close to Mars on Friday in a crucial manoeuvre that could bring scientists closer to understanding the birth of Earth.
The flyby will use Mars’s gravity to send the spacecraft towards Psyche, a rare metal-rich asteroid that may reveal clues about how rocky planets formed.
It will race past Mars at around 19,848kph, passing close within 4,500 kilometres of the planet’s surface.
NASA will use the close approach to harness Mars’s gravity and place the spacecraft on the correct path towards the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
"The Mars gravity assist helps us to actually go faster, and also it changes the plane,” said Don Han, Psyche Navigation Team Lead at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
